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Pakistan conducted air and drone strikes on 10 locations in Afghanistan early Thursday in response to what Islamabad said were drone attacks launched from Afghan territory a day earlier, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said.
In a post on X, Tarar said the strikes were carried out as an exercise of Pakistan’s “sovereign right to self-defence” and targeted sites allegedly used to launch and store drones. He described the strikes as “deliberate, precise, calibrated and proportionate” and said they were limited to identified military objectives linked to the attempted attacks on Pakistan.
On Wednesday, Pakistani security sources said the country’s air defence systems had shot down eight drones that entered Pakistani airspace from Afghanistan. Four were reportedly intercepted near the Torkham border and four near Kohat.
Tarar said the drones were detected, tracked and neutralised before reaching their intended targets. He accused the Afghan Taliban of allowing militant networks to operate from Afghan soil, a claim the Taliban government has repeatedly rejected.
Pakistan did not immediately disclose the locations of the 10 sites targeted in Thursday’s strikes.
The latest strikes come amid heightened tensions between Islamabad and Kabul. Pakistan carried out earlier airstrikes in the Afghanistan border region on September 21, saying they targeted militant hideouts after a series of attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan said more than 28 militants were killed, while the Taliban government condemned the strikes.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban of providing sanctuary to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is banned in Pakistan. Kabul denies the allegation and says militancy inside Pakistan is an internal matter.